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Jayson Tatum (0) of the Boston Celtics celebrates a dunk off Kendrick Nunn of the Miami Heat, at the rear, during the second half of an NBA conference final basketball game on Saturday, September 19 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – Getting big leads has been relatively easy for the Boston Celtics in these Eastern Conference finals.
This time, they also found a way to finish the job.
And so the series for the Eastern title got much closer.
Jaylen Brown scored 26 points, Jayson Tatum added 25 and the Celtics returned to the East finals with a 117-106 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 3 on Saturday night. Kemba Walker added 21 to help Boston climb to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
Marcus Smart scored 20 points for Boston, going 9 of 9 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. The Celtics, who also had 14 rebounds and eight assists from Tatum, outscored Miami 60-36 in the paint, led by as many as 20 and never lost.
The Celtics held Miami with 39% shooting.
Bam Adebayo had 27 points and 16 rebounds for the Heat, who fell for the second time in 12 games in these playoffs. Tyler Herro scored 22 points, Jimmy Butler 17 and Duncan Robinson 13.
The Heat rallied from 14 points down to win Game 1 in overtime, 17 points down to win Game 2, but they never made it to Saturday, though they did manage a late run to make things interesting.
They got close to eight on a 3-pointer by Robinson with 1:12 left, setting the tone for the Celtics to rush in at the end. Brown flagrantly fouled nine seconds later, and Robinson made one of two free throws to cut Boston’s lead to 109-102.
Adebayo scored on the next possession to put Miami to five and cap a 24-9 run, but the Heat didn’t come close.
Herro scored 16 points in the second quarter alone to keep Miami close, the last of those 16 on a triple with 3:22 left before halftime to cut Boston’s lead to 51-48.
It was then that the Celtics began to flee.
Boston had three consecutive fast-break scores in a 48-second span to bring its lead back to 10, and after a 3-pointer from Walker of late, it was 63-50 at the break.
And when Miami attempted another comeback in the third, Boston again had an answer at the end of the fourth.
The Heat followed an 11-1 run to reach 82-73 on a Herro layup with 1:08 left in the third, and Boston responded with the next seven points, needing just 32.9 seconds to get them.
Goran Dragic had 11 for Miami and Jae Crowder finished with 10. The Heat were 12 of 44 from 3-point range.
TIPS
Celtics: This is the 124th series in Boston playoff history, and the Celtics are 3-0 down in just seven of them. … Brown and Tatum now have eight games each of at least 20 points so far in these playoffs. … Gordon Hayward made his comeback after missing a month with a sprained right ankle, scoring six points in 31 minutes.
Heat: Even with the loss, Miami equaled the best 12-game start in any postseason in team history, now 10-2. The Heat also started the postseason that way in 2005, 2012 and 2013.… Miami never led, marking the first time it happened in the team’s last 70 games. The only other instance of that this season for the Heat was Nov. 23 against Philadelphia.
ROAD, SWEET ROAD
Games in the bubble still count toward “home” and “road” records. The designated road team has won the last 12 games Boston has played in, and in the playoffs, visiting teams are now 39-31. That ties the NBA’s record for road wins in any postseason; teams were 39-50 away from home in the 2014 playoffs. The winning percentage away from home this postseason (.557 at this time) would also be an NBA record; the current mark is .519, established in 1966 when road teams were 14-13.
RARE SATIN
In part to allow the Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets to catch up, the Heat and Celtics will not play Game 4 until Wednesday. Lakers-Nuggets Game 2 is Sunday, followed by Game 3 on Tuesday. From there, both series will have an every other day format.
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